54 Replies:

dont worry about it it is the main vein that goes to your brain it happens when you lay down you can hear it in your ear dont worry its fine are you stressed or got anxiety things like this can make you worry about it it makes you home in at things that is happening in your body give it no thought and it will go away i promise graham

I, too, have that loud noise in my ear when I lie down. I asked my doctor about it but he didn't seem concerned. I hate it, though! I apply pressure to the artery below my ear just to shut it up for awhile but it is just a temporary fix.

What does that mean? It is making a noise like "pshew, pshew, pshew..." Hmmm...It is called pulsatile tinnitus. I have crickets living in my head all the time night and days, at times it wake me up or won't let me get to sleep. After so many years and $$$$$ I have to live with them. I had MRI and all is clear in my brain so ....it all started with a migraine and stued with me it is about 5 years now and I am still looking for delivrance.Have a ENT look at you they are the ones to help if help there is but you need to eliminate other health issuesGood luck

"I, too, can hear my pulse in my left ear. But it's not just when I'm lying down, it's all the time and it interferes with my hearing. It's very irritating."I sympatized with you, I have that noise all the time. Going to the dentist and have my teeth cleaned or having an electric razor shaving my neck are a blessing....After so many years I adapted to it, I learned to live with it. I am a person who love silence. This is not fair but what is when your body act on you. There is worst that that .menow

I experience this aswell, not just when lying down, when im standing up aswell usually during any sort of physical activity whatsoever.I'm also experiencing other problems at the moment with my head though which is being investigated.Ive mentioned it to my doctor aswell and they never seem to concerned i dont think they realise how frustrationg it is!!!!Let us know if you find out whats actually causing yoursAll the best.Pink Tiger.

I came to this website hoping to find some new treatment for pulsatile tinnitus as was heartened to see so many others suffering. Mine started about 14 years ago. I went through many medical exams including a spinal tap to check the pressure of the spinal fluid, an intense eye exam to rule out Benign Inner cranial hypertension and finally the mapping of the arteries and veins in my head which involved threading a tube through an incision in the pelvic aorta, up to the head where some some dye was pumped into my head. Thankfully all those were negative. Two options were given for treatment an antidepressant or internal jugular vein ligation. I chose the latter after being miserable for at least 3 years. The surgery has worked well, but I do have sporadic tinnitus which I can minimize with a foam ear plug, or by simply applying finger pressure to the veins on the affected side of my neck. And at times I hear a ticking, of the beating of my heart. Don't worry, the veins regrow, and hopefully better oriented not so close to the ear canal.What helped me sleep was to use a foam ear plug, then cover that with a wax plug. That muffled the tinnitus so that I could sleep. Unfortunately after a fews day the ear canal gets irritated and I would then sleep with a firm pillow rolled up on my neck that put pressure on the vein.Sometime you can make the noise stop just my turning your head in the direction of the affected ear, for me the right side. I remember when I had the spinal tap done medical students came to see me and were able to listen to the tinnitus by stethoscope and that I could make it shop by applying pressure. My doctor said pulsatile tinnitus has no know cause, and that it is most often found in obese women over the age of thirty and may or not be preceeded by an ear infection. However, there I disagree since this all started shortly after I had a rear collision accident which was followed shortly by an ear infection, otherwise don't know much more after all these years. Lastly, sometimes the tinnitus is so intense that I feel the vibration. Hang in there and don't give up!

Was searching for something on this, as I have had this pulsating heartbeat sound in my ear for 4 wks now. At first, it was faint and I thought it was the ceiling fan, but when my husband did not hear it....It took me days to figure out it was inside my ear & head. It is louder now and in the last wk. I have started head pain on that side, with a full feeling all around my ear. I saw a Nurse Practioner, that said my ear was a "little red" & gave me antibotic. Now after reading what all Pusatile Tinnitus, I'm getting scare to death. I already had TMJ signs & I know I'm doing alot of clencing that are making matters worse. I'm scheldued for a doppler 5 days from now (but they said it will take 5 days to get results) so that is 10 more days. I know I can't stand this that long. Ones, that have this ALL the time, what do you do for it??????Mine is CONSTANT, 24/7.... all positions - I can't seem to make it stop at all. I tried mashing on the neck artery. . Help! I'm about to go crazy!!

I've heard my pulse whooshing in my ear for over 5 years. When it started, it was making my CRAZY... and there was bad nausea and vertigo. Hearing got very difficult, like sounds have a hard time getting past the WHOOSH WHOOSH. But body noises are very loud. If I'm talking or singing, it sounds really loud and distorted in that ear. Combing hair, I hear the comb scratching my head. Swallowing, I hear all the squish & squeaks, and blowing my nose is REALLY loud in that ear. The nausea and vertigo has decreased a lot over the past few years thank goodness. The first ENT checked in my ear and up my nose etc. and did a hearing test with the plug thing stuck in the ear. He said there was nothing wrong with my hearing, nothing wrong in the ear. I was so frustrated and the constant noise was making me nuts... when he said that, I couldn't hold back the tears - I told him there WAS something wrong, I was dizzy and the noise was there all the time!! He said it was all in my head, and suggested I see a psychologist to help me learn to deal with my emotions. (I wanted to slap him). The next ENT said it was happening because I had NO ear wax. Gave me ear drops, said don't get it wet for a month & wear a plug in that ear at night. Of course that didn't help either. The next two ENT's and the two audiologists have all been quite thorough. They've done additional hearing tests that do show significant hearing loss in that ear for every day hearing - normal conversations on that side of my head are a lost cause - am getting pretty good at reading lips. Still nobody can find the problem. It's constant - nothing makes it stop or get less loud. Lying down, standing up, pushing on veins or arteries, nothing helps. It's faster when exercising, slower when resting. I've tried eliminating sodium from the diet, eliminating alcohol, wearing the night guard (which does help the tmj but does nothing for the whooshing). At this point, I just live with it.... but it would be really nice if there was a way to make it stop. Would also be nice to know what the cause is of this... something had to change to make it start all of a sudden... but what????????

Come to think of it, I was seeing a chiropractor around that time. But can't say for sure if the symptoms began before or after. I'm inclined to say after... but it's been 6 years now, and I can't be sure. Do you have some experience with similar symptoms attributed to a neck manipulation?

I have been hard of hearing since a issue of domestic violence at 4 years of age. When I lost part of my hearing I still remember that time very well because I had "ringing in my ears", which is basically tinnitus. After a few years I realized I could use it to my advantage. I would remember a song or a melody and use it to literally "play" what is now an entire databank of records or songs in my mind. I have a lot of fun with this because over the years my hearing has worsened, thus, music has pretty much become irrelevant. If you want to beat the sounds so you don't get overwhelmed, I would recommend that - assuming you can hear partially or with an aid - to pop in the hearing aid and overpower it with simple "true" sounds in everyday life. Tinnitus really kicks in after exertion or when the mind hasn't much else to do. As I grew up, I've heard every sound that I remember from my past. As of now, I am 27 and doing well enough. I lip-read mostly, but still hear about an estimated 20%-30%. You get used to the sounds after a time and, eventually, learn how to master it to where you can turn it off or lower the intensity. Good luck. -Pan

About 6 months ago I began having pulsing in my left ear. For a few weeks, I let it bother me completely nuts and finally gave in and got an appt with my doctor. She didn't really know what was causing it but did regular check up procedures just to make sure everything was okay. She checked my blood pressure and it turned out to be just fine. She looked in my ear and declared it must be sinus problems. She prescribed me ammoxicillin to take the "infection" away. I could've told her it wasn't an infection when I was there, but I had been driven completely crazy for long enough to take whatever answer I could get and run with it. I took the ammoxicillin and it didn't help in the least bit. There was no infection and nothing this medicine could help. So I began to take other avenues. I called my doctor back and got her to refer me to an ENT specialist. I went into the appointment to get a reason or cure for my ear pulsing and came out diagnosed with TMJ, which I pretty much knew I already had. He had dumb answers for my ear questions such as..."some people just have sounds in their ears all the time and they never go away." or "my ears have been ringing for years, I just get used to it." As anyone on this page can tell you, you don't just get used to it. He also told me that it may help if I lose 5 or 10 pounds (haha). So I lost 7 and my ear just kept on pulsing. So I turned to a chiropractor. As we all know how chiropractors can be, they stretch your appointments out as long as they can to get as many bucks as they can. So I continued to go to the chiropractor a few times a week to relax the muscles and vessels in my neck. (He thought that would fix it.) about 2 weeks into the chiropractic appointments my ear pulsing stopped. I quickly cancelled the rest of my appointments and ran with the fact that it was finally gone. Until 5 days later in the shower. BOTH ears began to pulse and I knew I was in for it. So I was convinced that the chiropractic appointments worked and I scheduled more to get relief...once again. But this time he didn't fix it. I went through all my appointments without any relief at all. I went to my dentist to see if TMJ was the problem and he said he didn't think it had anything to do with TMJ. (which I still do). So here I am, 6 months from when it started, still with no relief whatsoever. I've done my homework and searched time and time again for an answer all over the internet and nothing has come up. All I find is people saying it's "pulsatile tinnitus" or "we just have to get used to it." No. We don't just have to get used to it. You can't be taken seriously when saying these types of things unless you actually have gone through it. I have pulsing in my ears day in and day out 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. It keeps me up at night and has put a damper on my hearing in certain places. So it's not something that I can just "get used to." And this pulsatile tinnitus thing is getting to me too. We don't hear sounds of a machine or ringing. It's pulsing. We can hear our pulse and it's not comfortable. What these doctors don't understand is that we walk into their office with a serious nuisance in our ear or ears and they feed us whatever garbage they think can get us out quickly and when we walk out they forget about it. They forget about trying to find something that fixes this because they aren't going through it. But when we walk out of the office, we can't just forget about it. these sounds are in our ears ALL THE TIME. it's hard to just look over something that is staring you straight in the face everyday. And to those people who say "my ears have been ringing for years." It's not ringing that we hear. It is very loud pulsing and it is constant. In this situation, I think ringing would be much easier to handle. But it's not what we have. Sorry this is so long, I just really felt like venting. To any of you ear pulsers who think you've found the trick to getting rid of it....please keep posting. Those of us who are very irritated by it check these sites constantly for new postings. Keep your head up.

Please see a Nero. Dr. ASAP. My story sounds a lot like yours. (Not ringingbut pulsing or a swoosh pulse). You should be checked for Carotid artery dissection. This can be caused by chiropracters, among other things. I had this and it led to a stroke. for more info there is a group on facebook under Carotid Artery dissection, lots of great info there. Good luck and don't take learn to live with it for an answer.

hi, there's a new online forum for people suffering from pulsatile tinnitus at http://www.whooshers.com many doctors clump pulsatile tinnitus sufferers with sufferers of "regular" tinnitus (they say sorry its common just live with it), but the cause of pulsatile tinnitus can usually be identified. few doctors, however, know how to do this. finding answers can be a very frustrating and depressing experience. the important thing to know is you're not alone. there are relatively few diagnoses of pulsatile tinnitus but this is not because there are few sufferers. you can tell this just by searching "heartbeat in my ear" in google. there have been some great articles in major papers recently, which are already posted on the site. check it out and maybe find some answers to some of your questions. we're trying to get a whole bunch of whooshers to post their experiences so that doctors can see that we're a big group, not small! http://www.whooshers.com

Last October i went to the Dr. becuz I could no longer feel the pulse in my left wrist. They discovered that i had a significant blockage in the left subclavian artery it was called subclavian steal as it was taking blood from my brain to feed the arm. They also found that i have moderate blockage in the left coratid artery. In October of 2008 i had a stent put into the subclavian and it took care of the lack of pulses and I was getting the proper flow of blood to the brain. Just in the last 3 months I had to stop taking my simvistatin for colesteral as I lost my job and didnt have the money to pay for it and in last month i also started hearing pulses in my left ear while my blood pressure fluctuated. Also the pulses have diminished in my left wrist again with the blood pressures being 30 to 40 points different between the wrists. If anyone out there is having problems with hearing this pulse in your ear it may be a significant blockage in your arteries. ( what your hearing is the increased preasure as blood is flowing through your arteries. I have an appointment today Aug 6th 09 for dopler ultrasound of my left coratid artery before i see my dr next tuesday. I may have to have subclavian bypass surgery as they cant re do the stent. One Tip......ok ok ok 2Dont smokeDont stop taking your medications. I think I have learned a big lessonCould be worse...I could have had a stroke or heart attack

Has anyone got the feeling where you cannot hear after it does the wooshing? Like I had an anxiety attack but right after I heard the sound my ear like went numb and it was like trying to hear things through a Pillow... Mine doesnt just come at extreme Stress it also comes at Extreme PLeasure....and it lasts for a long time. and it does come periodically for no Reason at all.. I am trying to find a pattern and It is not working.